Targets for Data Mining
The potential applications
for data mining
technology are many. Here are a few
currently being addressed by data
mining:
Marketing: predicting which
customers will respond to a mailing or
buy a particular product; classifying
customer demographics.
Banking: forecasting levels of
bad loans and fraudulent credit card
usage, credit card spending by new
customers, and which kinds of customers
will respond to (and qualify
for) new loan offers.
Manufacturing, sales, and retail:
predicting sales; determining correct
inventory levels and distribution
schedules among outlets.
Manufacturing and production:
predicting when to expect machinery
failures; finding key factors
that control optimization of manufacturing
capacity; predicting excessive
vibrations in a steel mill when rolling;
determining value for circuit trim
resistors.
Brokerage and securities, trading:
predicting when bond prices will
change; forecasting the range of stock
fluctuation for particular issues and
the overall market; determining when
to trade stocks.
Insurance: forecasting amount
of claims and cost of medical coverage;
classifying most important elements
that affect medical coverage; predicting
which customers will buy new
policies.
Computer hardware and software:
predicting disk-drive failure;
forecasting how long it will take to
create new chips; predicting potential
security violations.
Government and defense:
forecasting the cost of moving military
equipment; testing strategies for potential
military engagements; predicting
consumption of resources.
Medicine: predicting a drug's
mechanism of action; classifying anticancer
agents tested in a drug screening
program; allocating testing resources
for emergency rooms.